Letter 24: June 16, 2008
I was reading Jim Vines's book Q & A: The Working Screenwriter. He put a standard set of questions to a bunch of established writers and then collated all their answers.
So now, when you should be writing and some urgent question about the business (how many brads?) happens to come into your mind, you can easily see what sixteen other people think.
The first question was, "Why a screenwriter?" That's really interesting to me. It happens to be a question I am about to put to a different bunch of screenwriters for a deadly serious academic reason.
I'm interested to know Vines's answers because they predict the answers I might get, which helps me design my follow-up questions and my approach to analyzing the results.
And here's what they were (as analyzed by me, with a little "interpretation" of what on Earth some people were trying to say). Nine people said that for them, screenwriting was the best way to be a storyteller. Four were directors or wanted to be directors, or wanted to be in the movies. Two were already in entertainment, and just somehow started writing for reasons they didn’t explain. The sixteenth answer wasn't clear to me at all.
Only two of these people mentioned money.
Now, okay, they're answering for publication and they're maybe going to massage their responses. But 87% don't do it for the money? If that's even half true it's quite striking. And it probably is: new writers I meet would often rather see their films made than see a large payment and no picture.
Nobody at all talked about fame, glamour, or adventure. Of course fame isn't a thing that Hollywood writers see much of (can you name your six favorite movie writers? can you name the writers of your three favorite pictures?). But adventure and glamour? - you could at least hope.
I think that for people who want to get into the movies, writing is not the way you'd go unless you were already interested in storytelling. It is not the traditional route into directing. It requires some technical skill and experience before you go near a soundstage.
It does offer one advantage to the aspiring member of the movie business. You can do it without living in Los Angeles, and without being available for a twelve-hour shift on less than a day's notice. You need never set foot inside a stage in your life if you don't want to (but why wouldn't you?... please don't ever miss the chance to poke around where the magic was made).
So after all that, what's something you can try today? Well, we're back to "do what it takes." If you want to tell stories, stop reading this and go tell some. Maybe now, before you do that other thing that's trying to get your full attention.
Note for UK readers: brads are Treasury tags, and obsessively important.
David
David Jung McGarva
+1 (818) 707 1871
Write me: david at todayiwrite dot com
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